The future of music is global.
As the industry expands beyond its traditional strongholds, companies are racing toward emerging markets around the world where cultural influence is growing at a rapid pace. For Golnar Khosrowshahi, the founder and CEO of Reservoir Media, that shift is the core of a long-term strategy that will move her New York-based firm into the new era.
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One of the most powerful people in the music business and a long-term fixture in Billboard Power Player lists both in Canada and the U.S., Khosrowshahi has spent nearly two decades building Reservoir into one of the most influential independent companies in the high-stakes music publishing business.
Founded in 2007, Reservoir has grown into a global, publicly listed powerhouse. Spanning publishing, recorded music, management, and catalogue acquisitions, the company has deployed over $1.1 billion in capital through major deals — including the $100 million acquisition of Tommy Boy Records and the acquisition of Chrysalis Records. The company works with major artists from Joni Mitchell and k.d. lang to De La Soul and the catalogue of Miles Davis. Recently, Reservoir even invested in U.K. company Lightroom, which is mounting an immersive David Bowie project.
With a footprint that consistently places it in the top 10 of global market share, Reservoir remains a dominant force in the independent sector.
Khosrowshahi’s international outlook is shaped in part by her own background. Born in Iran and spending many formative years in Canada, she is used to thinking globally. The company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, Toronto, London and Abu Dhabi and continues to expand into emerging music markets through initiatives like PopArabia in the Middle East and PopIndia in South Asia.
For Khosrowshahi, the ultimate goal of building those bridges is simple: to create music that travels globally.
“Success for us will come in the form of a global hit,” she says. “A hit that will travel around the world, transcend culture and language, a hit whose creators are global themselves.”
The borders will become more fluid as songwriters and artists collaborate across territories.
“I don’t think there’s any reason why you’re a Sri Lankan artist and can’t have a hit with some of your writers in Nashville.”
In this week’s Billboard Canada Executive of the Week interview, Khosrowshahi discusses Reservoir’s business model, the evolving value of music catalogues, and how digital platforms are reshaping the life cycle of songs old and new.
Read it here. — Richard Trapunski
Canadian and Australian Music Rights Organizations Release Joint Statement on AI and Copyright
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Australia this week, creating many headlines on two different sides of the world. Simultaneously in Sydney this week was another notable Canadian, SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown, and her visit also made a mark.
Brown was attending the board of directors meeting of CISAC (the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers), hosted by Australasian performing rights society APRA AMCOS as part of its centenary year. She and her Australian counterpart, Dean Ormston, CEO of APRA AMCOS, took advantage of the timing of Carney’s visit to release a joint statement on creative industries and artificial intelligence.
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Their statement reads, in part: “Today, as Prime Minister Albanese welcomed Prime Minister Carney to the Australian Parliament, he said it plainly: ‘As two middle powers in an era of strategic competition, Australia and Canada must seek and create new ways to stand with and for each other.’ Prime Minister Carney was equally direct about the stakes: that nations like ours must work together on the development of Artificial Intelligence or risk being caught ‘between the hyperscalers and the hegemons.’ We agree on both counts, and we believe the creative economy is where that solidarity must be tested and proved.”
“We [SOCAN and APRA AMCOS] collectively represent almost 400,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers across Australasia and Canada. The shape of that framework matters enormously. It will determine whether AI development generates broad cultural and economic returns, or whether those returns flow overwhelmingly to a small number of global technology platforms at the expense of the artists whose work made AI possible.”
While they are supportive of AI development, they note, there is an urgent need for a licensing framework. There can’t be a legal exception to copyright for AI training.
“Middle-power nations are uniquely placed to answer this question. Australia has already demonstrated that: becoming the first country in the world to rule out a copyright exception for AI training, and beginning work on a practical licensing framework instead. Canada is engaged in the same contest. Both countries understand that the choice is not between innovation and creator protection: it is a false choice, and a self-interested one, advanced by those who prefer to avoid the importance of artists and creators in the technological development of AI.”
“APRA AMCOS and SOCAN have each spent a century navigating technological change on behalf of creators, from radio to streaming, and now to AI. The licensing infrastructure exists. The expertise exists. The partnerships between our two governments create the right conditions to build the frameworks that make it work.”
The challenges posed by AI to the music creators belonging to both performing rights societies has clearly been top of mind to both APRA AMCOS and SOCAN, and they are pledging to cooperate on this issue.
Last month, SOCAN launched a national campaign, urging the Canadian government to eliminate copyright exceptions that permit free and unauthorized use of copyright-protected works for AI training — prioritizing human-created music. The campaign quickly elicited the support of prominent Canadian artists and organizations, including Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, Elisapie, Dan Mangan, Mac DeMarco, Leith Ross, BMG Music Publishing, Nettwerk Music Group and more.
Read more here. — Kerry Doole
Acclaimed Singer-Songwriter Braden Lam Signs With Universal Music Canada
Universal Music Canada continues to add to its roster of homegrown talent.
The major record label has announced the signing of rising indie-folk singer-songwriter Braden Lam.
Blending diaristic indie songwriting with a modern folk sound, Lam has cemented himself as an emerging voice. Last April, the Halifax-based artist released his acclaimed debut album, The Cloudmaker’s Cry, following a run of successful singles.
Throughout Lam’s 10-track album, he emotionally reflects on lessons learned about time, love and the world around him. Recorded with producer Eli Browning in Toronto, the album leans into the layered sounds of the ‘60s and ’70s, blending pedal steel swells, crisp acoustic textures and analogue warmth into a classic singer-songwriter album.
Lam joins the genre-spanning list of recent Canadian UMC signees, following rising R&B singer Kuzi Cee, who scored his debut entry on the Billboard Canada Airplay charts in February. In recent months the label has also signed lo-fi singer Ebril, jazz singer and pianist Elysia Biro and built a unique partnership with songwriter and artist developer Lowell — all under the leadership of Julie Adam, president & CEO of Universal Music Canada and the A&R team.
Releasing music since the beginning of the decade, Lam has been able to garner an audience independently, scoring multiple nominations at Music Nova Scotia and East Coast Music Association without major label backing — now that’s about to change.
“I’m really keen on making records in more traditional ways, and I’ve built my career in a grassroots fashion with the people and music at its core. To have UMC recognize this hunger for authenticity from audiences today and my hard work at making those connections is the best feeling,” says Lam.
“I’m grateful to be surrounded by a team that truly cares for my vision and wants to see it amplified. I can’t wait to take Nova Scotia to the rest of the world.”
Read more here. — Heather Taylor-Singh
